Kukla's Korner Hockey

Entries with the tag: tomas plekanec

If you ask the average hockey fan to name the top 10 scoring centers in the NHL, names will come fast and furious.

Sidney Crosby? No-brainer.

Steven Stamkos? Of course.

Henrik Sedin? Obviously.

But how many fans would know Tomas Plekanec of the Montreal Canadiens sits in a tie for eighth among NHL centers in points going into Thursday's games? Or that he was tied for 12th among centers last season, alongside such superstars as Eric Staal, Pavel Datsyuk and Vincent Lecavalier?

"Of course it would be nice to get the recognition, but I like it this way," Plekanec told NHL.com this week. "In Montreal you get that recognition every second of the day. So I wouldn't say it bothers me, but of course it would be nice."

So we had a player returning from jaw surgery and scoring 2 goals in Derek Stepan, a 4-1 New York Rangers lead blown, a pulled goaltender in Henrik Lundqvist, a hat trick for Rene Bourque, a match penalty for John Moore, an empty net for the Rangers with seven minutes left in the game and some near-the-bench shenanigans. Did I miss anything, or did that cover the Montreal Canadiens' 7-4 victory over the New York Rangers? Oh yes, Derek Dorsett head-butting Mike Weaver and then doing his damnedest to injure Rene Bourque on the last shift. And Tomas Plekanec actually being called for fake-jerking his head back to try to draw a penalty.

Here's Rene Bourque's hat trick goal...

And we're probably going to be talking about this hit (via @myregularface on Twitter) as well as Lars Eller and Dorsett's shenangians:

What an utterly bizarre game. After the first-period shenanigans subsided, save some dramatic individual rushes, the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers basically settled into a classic game of playoff chess-on-ice (not that Michel Therrien or Alain Vigneault have ever utilized trapping hockey, of course), and the third, fourth and fifth goals scored in the Montreal Canadiens' 3-2 OT victory all deflected into the net via players' body parts, including Alex Galchenyuk's winner, which went into the net because Henrik Lundqvist directed the rebound of Tomas Plekanec's shot into Galchenyuk's neck.

NHL.com's Dan Rosen summarizes the late-3rd-period and OT action, as well as the superb performance put in by Dustin Tokarski (though his board-stiff posture and hard-angle positioning are strikingly different from Carey Price's athletic, fluid style)...

Alex Galchenyuk scored off a rebound 1:12 into overtime to give the Canadiens a 3-2 victory against the New York Rangers in Game 3 on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers lead the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 is Sunday at Madison Square Garden (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS).

Galchenyuk scored after Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist made a save on Tomas Plekanec's shot from the left circle. The rebound came out to the right and Galchenyuk was there to score his first goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in his second game.

Tomas Plekanec, who has been with the Canadiens his entire NHL career, has been the subject of talks with several teams. While the Canadiens have dropped out of the playoff hunt and are looking forward to next season, they want an established player in return for Plekanec, preferably a winger with some size.

While Plekanec said Friday that he wasn’t aware of being the subject of any trade talks, The Gazette has learned that the player’s agent let it be known earlier this month that the veteran centre would be willing to waive the no-trade clause which was part of the six-year, $30-million deal he signed in 2010.

Many expected the Montreal Canadiens to be somewhat lackluster on Tuesday night, perhaps downtrodden due to the long absence that appears to be ahead for their best defenceman, Andrei Markov. But give the Canadiens credit, they brought their best game to the Bell Centre, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 in their first meeting since last spring’s heartbreaking playoff defeat.

Carey Price picked up where he left off against Carolina on Saturday night, making several highlight reel saves in leading the Habs to their fourth straight victory. Seriously folks, some of these were phenomenal. He has really turned a corner. And how about that, three shutouts this season for Carey Price, who previously got shutouts on a frequency comparable to appearances by Haley’s Comet. This level of goaltending is something Montreal hockey fans have not seen from Carey Price. He was good in 2008, but this is better. Carey Price is for real.

It’s time, once again, to raise a glass and offer a toast (figuratively, of course – or not) to the NHL’s stars from a night ago:

***Cheers to Mathieu Garon of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who warded off a Philadelphia Flyers comeback attempt to the tune of 28 saves after goals from rookie Kyle Wilson (his first in the NHL) and Derick Brassard established an early 2-0 lead for the home squad. At 5-3-0, the Blue Jackets are still buried beneath Nashville, Detroit, Chicago and St. Louis in the Western Conference’s Central Division standings, making last night’s key performances from their backup goaltender and a couple of young stars that much more important.

The alternative to the standard game recap became a staple of my Tampa Bay Lightning coverage last season and it was only a matter of time before it made its season debut here.

Sure, the title of the regular feature has now been copied by a second-rate Bolts blog as of this morning but the content can’t hold a candle to the original and, hell, you’re here with me and they’re, well… They’re sleeping, I’m sure, on Pacific Time and what not… (Lightning coverage from California? Now that’s insight!)

If the post-season odds were not already stacked against the Montreal Canadiens, Tomas Plekanec may have added some fuel to the fire on Tuesday by giving the Washington Capitals some bulletin board material.

In an interview with Montreal newspaper La Presse, Plekanec took a swipe at the Capitals’ goaltending.

“It’s not as though we are facing (Martin) Brodeur or (Ryan) Miller,” Plekanec told La Presse. “They don’t have a dominant goaltender. When you look at the goaltending matchup in this series it favours our team. I just believe that our goaltending is more solid than theirs.”

“I’m not saying their goalies are bad. I’m just saying our goalies are better.”

Krejci tried to challenge Plekanec after the whistle, but he was rebuffed. In addition to Plekanec’s high-sticking penalty, the two players received unsportsmanlike conduct minors. Krejci says he has no idea what precipitated Plekanec’s hit because there were no words exchanged.

“I don’t care about suspended, but he should stick up for [himself],” Krejci said before Saturday night’s game with Toronto at TD Garden. “But he didn’t do it. He did what he did and he just left. He didn’t respond or anything. So I think it’s a gutless move. And we’ll play them again this year, so we’ll see what happens.”

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli confirmed to ESPNBoston.com that he has been in contact with the NHL offices about the hit and the league is reviewing it.

The Montreal Canadiens have re-signed restricted free agent forward Tomas Plekanec to a one-year contract worth $2.75 million. By agreeing to a deal, the team and player avoided a salary arbitration hearing that had been scheduled for July 30.

TORONTO (February 12, 2009) – Montreal Canadiens forward Tomas Plekanec has been suspended for two games, without pay, for an incident involving Edmonton Oilers defenseman Denis Grebeshkov during NHL Game #809 last night, the National Hockey League announced.

At 4:29 of the second period, Plekanec took down Grebeshkov from behind, resulting in an injury to the Edmonton player. He was assessed a minor penalty for tripping on the play.